Chapter Thirty-Four
Knowing my match was next I left Mina and Momo behind, exiting our class's box and jogging down the winding network of hallways that would lead me out onto the field. Slipping my gloves on as I did so, I ran a little bit of current through them, feeling them react to the metal structure of the arena, even hidden behind concrete as it was, and push away slightly. Reversing the current, the opposite happened, and I nodded to myself. Hopefully, I wouldn't need them, but, if I did, I'd be ready.
A thrill of nerves ran up my spine, and I took a deep breath. It was one thing to fight in the moment, or to be going into a mass melee, but fighting a known, or unknown in this case, opponent one on one was something else entirely. I knew their Quirk, but not their fighting style, their tendencies, any of the other dozen things that determined how someone fought. I had to figure out what my opponent would do, and how I'd react.
Really, when you looked at this, it wouldn't be a long, drawn out fight like Ochaco and Bakugo, or Midoriya and, well, anybody. Move and countermove, and then it'd be over.
But is that what I really want?
Denki, the old Denki, had a nice, electric yellow 'I win' button, and, because of that, he'd choked the second it didn't work. I needed something a bit more, but I also didn't want to lose.
Move, countermove, more of the same move, and then winning finish.
That's how it would go.
Unless she could do something I didn't know about.
Well, if her Quirk could have some other ability, like making me fall to pieces, I'd be able to no-sell it with my defenses, and bullshit something about my transformational ability afterwards. Hearing Present Mic start to announce me, I walked out, a big smile plastered over my features as I strode towards the arena.
"And in this corner is student with an electrifying personality, Denki Kaminari!" the Pro Hero said, the crowd cheering. " Now, will we see a shocking fight, or will our contestants fall to pieces!"
"That's terrible," Aizawa remarked dryly, but the crowd ate it up.
Finishing my walk up the stairs, I saw my green-haired opponent already in position, stretching, with a wide smile of her own. "Ready to lose, muscles?" she called.
I just shook my head, "I doubt you are either."
"Can't argue with that," she agreed easily.
"Are both sides ready?" Miss Midnight asked, and, after we both nodded, she waved her flog like it was a starting flag. "Then begin !"
Tokage took off at a sprint, not using her Quirk at all, and I narrowed my eyes, not having expected that. She'd only taken a half-dozen steps before I started to charge as well, keeping One for All ready, but not turned up. I didn't want to hurt the girl, after all.
Move.
She grinned once more as I got nearer, my long, loping strides causing us to close in on each other quickly, but I was willing to spring this trap, just to see what she did. Sure enough, as soon as I reached her, my longer reach letting me strike first, I slammed a metal-covered fist into her ribs, at half strength, only for her torso to separate, flying backwards with the blow, her uniform suddenly ending below her bust and starting again at her stomach as if it'd been perfectly cut.
The rest of her, however, slammed into me, not punching me but grabbing as she hit me with an ever-increasing amount of force, the rest of her splitting up to grab and push as much of me as she could, reversing my course in an instant, lifting me ten feet above the ground.
Countermove.
Turning my legs to lightning as I was picked up and carried towards the far end of the field, instead of sideways like I'd feared, she let go of my now transformed limbs, allowing them to easily shove downwards, piercing the concrete, and holding me fast. Without more than a trickle of One for All empowering me, though, it was all I could do to keep from getting ripped out, the pressure she could exert with her Quirk that great.
Her forehead pressed against mine, trying to force me back, and she grinned, though it wasn't a nice smile. "Thought so," she said in my face. "You're strong, but I'm stronger."
Gritting my teeth, wanting to hold my strength in reserve in case I needed it, I replied, "How did you know I wouldn't just shock you?"
She bit out a laugh of her own, straining, and I pulled a fraction of a percent of OfA to keep this at a stalemate. "Watched you. You can only shock when you're transformed. And you're like Rin, you can't do it all yet!"
I shifted a hand to lightning, and she let go of it, but even as I tried to brush her off, she pulled those parts away, disembodied flesh evading my limb only to start pushing the second I'd moved my arm. More than that, her control was precise and fast, keeping her myriad of body parts out of danger with seeming ease.
More of the same move.
She really only had one trick. It was a good trick, but without gear it was still only a single trick. She might've given Midoriya trouble, but Mina, Momo, and Mei could've all handled her easily. As she pushed me even harder, one of my legs was pulled out, and I had to shove it down before I was dragged away again. However, I smiled.
"What's got you so happy?" she demanded. "You're about to lose. Unless-" she started to pale, but it was too late.
"I don't need to transform," I told her, confirming her fear, and grasped a small amount of my power, maybe a tenth, but it was nearly my maximum output back when I'd first arrived on the day of the entrance exam.
" Indiscriminate shock, one million volts!" I announced, releasing the energy from my knees upwards, covering the field in brilliant gold electricity. Tokage screamed in pain, her body re-forming in front of me, and I shut off my attack the moment she did so, catching her before she could hit the ground, even I let my transformed limbs revert, standing on the arena floor.
Winning finish.
My opponent was twitching, and smoking a little, but alive as I laid her carefully down on the ground. Shooting a look to Miss Midnight, who appeared more than a little surprised, the crowd having fallen silent, the pro collected herself before announcing "Miss Tokage is unable to continue. Mr. Kaminari wins!"
" And the fight is over in a flash, but it certainly was charged!" Present Mic announced, the crowd starting to cheer once more. " Who knew he was so energetic!"
Shaking my head, two small robots had already rolled up the stairs, a stretcher between them. One of them waved me away with a metal limb before they quickly maneuvered my opponent onto it, then rolling away.
"Humans, they're way too resistant," one chided, while the other called, "As if you'd do any better!"
Blinking at the random snarky robots, Miss Midnight called to me, "You'd better go back to your seat."
I nodded, walking off, running into Mina in a hallway as I did so. "Hi," I said, a little awkwardly.
"Hi," she replied, equally awkward. "About earlier. I. Just. Umm. . . ."
"Good luck," I told her, hesitating. If I told her that I was sure she'd put on a good show, even if she lost, was I suggesting I didn't have faith in her? If I told her I had faith in her, and she lost, would that make her feel worse? I really didn't know what to say, and I didn't want to hurt her feelings.
Luckily, she was able to read my expression, and smiled. "Thanks. Hurry up to our seats, okay? You're gonna want to see this."
I smiled back, "Wouldn't miss it for anything." I gave her a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, as we were out of sight of everyone else. Jogging off, I made it just in time for the announcement of the next fight.
" In one corner, we've got a girl who'll lift your spirits, and your everything else, Ochaco Uraraka!" Present Mic yelled. " And in the other, um, is there a purpose for those things sticking out of her head? Either way, the pink pugilist, Mina Ashido!"
Really? I thought, shaking my head at how un-professional the 'pro' was being at pointing out her mutations, but that didn't matter, only the match did. Both girls took ready stances, and, when Miss Midnight started the fight, charged each other. Ochaco took off running while Mina slid forward on her acid, coming out in thin streams from her boots.
My girlfriend was much faster, but Uraraka didn't so much as blink, lunging out to try and touch her opponent, to render her weightless, as they closed. However, Mina twisted to the side, her acid allowing her to shift direction without warning, even as she raised her hand, nozzle pointed right for the other girl.
A stream of acid was fired out, hooking the gravity nullifier's wrist, and Mina spun, yanking the girl off her feet, the stream of fluid acting like a solid. However, before she could move more than a couple feet, Uraraka waved her hand through the acid, which came apart under her fingers, floating in every direction.
With the connection broken, the fluid splashed everywhere, and Ochaco hit the ground at a roll, scrambling to her feet even as Mina slid back to gave herself some room. Reaching out with another tendril of acid, Mina's attack was disrupted as her opponent threw her hand forward, catching the stream and dispersing it into floating droplets instead of being caught once more.
If Mina wasn't holding back, Uraraka'd be dead, I couldn't help but think, given it was acid she was sticking her hand in, but, then again, this was a hero competition, not a battlefield, so it wasn't really a fair critique. On a battlefield, Ochaco wouldn't be fighting on completely flat ground, and have things to use her power on. This setting really does favor Blaster and Brute Quirks.
Uraraka continued to charge, while Mina pulled her hands back acid, flowing down her sleeves to cover her limbs in twin cylinders over the course of several seconds, which, if I was looking at them correctly, started to spin. Reversing her slide, Mina closed on Ochaco, using one of her arms to meet the girl's own grasping hand, which hit the spinning acid gauntlet and was deflected outward, holding together expect for a handful of droplets that were pushed off to the side, and my girlfriend was able to sink her other gauntlet into Uraraka's gut, causing the girl to sharply exhale in pain as she was slammed backwards.
Ochaco stumbled, and swung her other hand forward, as she got her feet back under her, to hit an expected follow up attack, but Mina was staying still, checking her own acid creations, topping up the one that'd been reduced.
"It works! Awesome," the pink-skinned girl smiled. "Ya wanna give up, or keep going?"
"I'm not out yet," her opponent bit out, collecting herself, and staring at the gloves. Without another word the gravity nullifier charged, holding her hands oddly as she did so.
Mina cocked her head, before charging forward as well. The two met, and Uraraka caught Mina's opening punch, twisting her own hand in the opposite direction, to cancel out the gauntlet's spin.
Ochaco's hand reached into the gloves, almost touching Mina, who jerked away, shoving the entire construct away from herself, yanking Uraraka back. However, instead of just picking the other girl up and shoving her off the field, the entire thing destabilized, too big and too spread out for Mina to keep control of.
Glove gone, Mina pulled back, ducking under Ochaco's other hand, which flailed as Uraraka was yanked backwards a dozen feet by the destabilized glove, hitting the ground and flipping over in a rough backwards roll, trying to pop back to her feet but stumbling, the motion obviously unpracticed.
Mina pulled back as well, her other glove rippled as her focus wavered, but she got it back, more acid starting to come out of her sleeve to reform her lost gauntlet. "Oooh, smart!" my girlfriend cheered, enjoying herself, but with a tense edge to her words.
Uraraka, eyes snapping to the reforming armor, charged forward, teeth grit. The smart thing to do would be to hold back, bait the girl, and go for the kill when she was closer to the edge.
Mina, however, charged and met Uraraka, sacrificing her other glove to get her blow in. Ochaco, expecting that, managed to not get blasted completely off her feet, but Mina dodged the follow up swipe, pushing the girls hand away with her unformed glove, and coming in for a rising uppercut that made me wince in sympathy, having been hit by that move many, many times before.
Once more, however, my girlfriend let her opponent collect herself, Ochaco hitting the ground hard, the blow having taken her off her feet. The brunette scrabbled to her feet with desperate speed, though weaving back and forth as she did so, disoriented by the strike. Damn it Mina, I thought, if you lose because you were going easy on her, we're going to have words.
Mind you, the time she let Uraraka recover also let Mina recreate both gloves, but giving your opponent time to get ready in a fight was never a good thing. "Still want to go?" Mina asked, and Ochaco nodded. The pinkette laughed, "Wow, you are tough! Let's do this thing!"
They charged forward once again, and, when the gravity nullifier tried to shove her hands through Mina's gloves, she was yanked off her feet, the gloves spinning in the opposite direction instead. Mina pressed the attack, sinking a heavy blow into the girl's side, able to use the acid on her feet to add a bit of extra oomph to the strike.
Uraraka stumbled back, but rallied, swiping outwards as Mina didn't give her time to recover, deciding to finish the fight. It was almost painful to watch, as Mina sunk blow after blow into her opponent, acid spreading out into a constellation of floating droplets all around them as Ochaco pulled off more and more of her opponent's protections.
I had to let out a low whistle, as, despite getting the shit beaten out of her, the brunette was still fighting, not giving up.
And then, she got lucky.
It was luck, not skill, I'd been fighting long enough to recognize the difference, but, sent off course as Mina reversed the spin of her gloves again, Ochaco fell awkwardly, but managed to catch Mina's leg with her pinky as she dropped.
Letting out a yelp of surprise, my girlfriend lifted up into the air, drifting backwards and ever higher.
"What a turn around!" Present Mic yelled. " It looked like Uraraka was on the ropes, but she's managed to completely disable her competition!"
Miss Midnight, frowned, looking at Mina, as Ochaco, with a tired smile, struggled to her feet. " Finally," the gravity-nullifier breathed, smiling, a bit of blood from a split lip trailing down her mouth. "So, give up?" she asked, turning the question back on her opponent.
Aizawa's voice came over the speakers, " I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Floating higher and higher, Mina laughed. "Oh, you got me! Good job! Too bad that isn't enough!"
Hitting more and more of her own acid, it collected wherever it hit, trailing up her arms, where more and more of it gathered, forming ever-larger cylinders. She didn't have the fine control needed for fingers of fluid, but this? This was completely in her capabilities, especially with Uraraka helping her out, reducing the weight of the acid, likely making it easier to control.
Once she'd gotten out of the cloud of acid, no longer able to passively gain more, Mina stopped in mid-air, expression focused as the cylinders grew even larger, until each one was nearly as big as she was.
"You might want to run," Mina warned, before she suddenly shot forward, weightless and dragged by her constructs.
Ochaco, to her credit, tried to do just that, but it wasn't enough, and the acid-user crashed down on her like a ton of bricks, viscous fluid spreading everywhere out in a syrupy explosion, before it suddenly inverted, surging back in, and blasting forward, carrying a body up and out of the arena, sideways, just barely clearing the side of the raised platform to splash her onto the grass on the far side, spreading out to reveal Uraraka, out cold.
"Ms. Ashido, Victory by ring-out," Miss Midnight declared, the crowd going wild.
Mina, on all fours on the cracked concrete arena floor, sat back with a relived sigh. "Man, that was tough," she commented, the mics easily picking it up and broadcasting it. The pinkette rolled backwards, springing up in a rising handstand and landed back on her feet. Holding her hands up in victory, smiling wide, the crowd cheered again, and she turned and calmly skated back to where she'd entered the arena, as Uraraka was loaded up on a stretcher, the same two robots carrying her away.
"So," I said, leaning back and looking to Momo, "that's what you guys came up with, while I was doing the recreational games?"
Yaoyorozu hesitated, before nodding. "Among other things, yes. What would you have suggested she do?"
I considered that. "The opening move, but more so, and spreading out acid to make the field slippery. Ruin Ochaco's footing, so the small shoves move her further, and then just keep doing it until you push her out. Avoid melee at all costs. But your plan made for a much better showing."
"Thank you," my friend nodded again. "Most of it was Ash-, was Mina's idea."
Which meant some of it wasn't, I translated, but I didn't really care how much of it was or wasn't her plan. She was a good fighter, she'd won, and she'd showed off her capabilities. That's all that really mattered here.
Cementoss fixed the field in less than a minute, casually shifting the entire structure for a moment to dump the acid off, which was. . . kind of impressive, on a sheer strength level. Mina's voice from the doorway drew my attention, as she cheered, "Booyeah!"
Our class looked up, as she entered the box, skipping down and heading over to her seat, jumping up and landing down in it. "So, how'd I do?" she asked, looking at me.
"You did really well," replied Midoriya. "I never would've thought using your Quirk that way!"
Glancing at the green-haired boy, Mina smiled. "Thanks! Your partner was pretty tough too! She almost had me, a couple of times."
She really didn't, but it was still nice to say. From Izuku's expression, he likely realized that too, commenting, "I'll tell her you said that. Her Quirk really isn't suited for this kind of thing."
"Yeah," Jiro commented. "But she just wouldn't give up."
Asui nodded, "It was kind of intimidating."
Mina glanced over to me, her expression expectant, as she hadn't really been asking the others. "You did really well," I told her, smiling. "I was just telling Momo how I wouldn't've thought of half of what you did."
"He was," Yaoyorozu confirmed. "His ideas had merit, but you handled yourself adroitly."
My girlfriend grinned, " Thanks!"
Sitting back, we turned as Present Mic announced the next fight, her hand finding mine. " And now our next match! On one side, we've got the sugar-fueled powerhouse, Rikido Sato! And on the other, who's been near the top, but not quite winning, the previous two events, the recommendation student who's shown he can hold his own, Shoto Todoroki!"
"Ouch," I muttered, as the two of them took their positions. Sato, holding a plastic tube, motioned to it, and Miss Midnight nodded, the boy eating the mega-sized pixy stix with practiced ease. He was technically using his Quirk before the match started, but, in an actual fight, he likely would've powered up right before. The boy's muscles grew, his expression darkening with concentration as his Quirk got to work
Miss Midnight, getting nods from both of them, whipped her flog down with a call of " Begin !"
Sato, moving in a way very reminiscent of All Might, launched himself forward, not running but pushing off the ground with super-strong legs. Shoto, holding out his right hand, sent out a wave of ice to stop him, well, cold.
The Brute, with a roar, met it with a punch, stopping forty feet away from his foe as he shifted his force into the blow, shattering the ice. Sato tried to move forward, only making it another dozen feet before a second, larger glacier shot forward.
Another punch shattered most of it, but it still covered Sato's feet, causing the student to take a moment to break his way out, starting to close once more.
"Apologies," Todoroki stated tonelessly, taking a firm step and shoving his hand forward with far more force than he had before.
The area in front of him erupted into ice, a spreading glacier that covered half the field, picking his opponent up, encapsulating him completely. Only Sato's face was left exposed, keeping the boy from suffocating. The larger hero student strained, but even his enhanced strength wasn't enough, not able to get enough leverage to strike, only pushing against his frozen prison.
Miss Midnight, half covered in ice herself, muttered, "Was that really necessary?" Collecting herself, she waited a long moment before announcing, "Sato is unable to move. Todorki wins! Now unfreeze both of us, or I'll turn something of yours blue."
Shoto paused, looking at her in confusion, the crowd still silent, before, ice frosted on half of his body, he stepped forward and laid a hand on the glacier he'd created. The ice started to melt, billowing into steam that spread out, filling the arena floor, thought it was blown away by an unnatural wind almost as fast as it was created.
In moments both Sato and Miss Midnight were freed from their icy prisons, the cold patches covering Todoroki also gone as he'd used his heat powers, though not the flame he'd vowed to never call upon.
"Well, that was over quickly, ribbit," Asui commented.
Midoriya nodded. "Sato is strong, but not strong enough. I wonder if. . ." he trailed off, obviously questioning if his strength would be enough to break free where Sato had failed, should he meet Todoroki in the finals.
"What a fight! I certainly didn't expect that!" Present Mic announced, the crowd reluctantly starting to cheer. " We're gonna take five minutes to clear the field, but then I'm sure things will heat up with the explosive matchup of Bakugo and Shinso!"
I blinked not having really thought about the fights me and my friends weren't going to be in. But that matchup. . .
"Kaachan!" Midoriya said, turning to face Bakugo, who was sitting to the side, away from the others. "Your opponent, his Quirk-"
But the explosive teen wasn't hearing it. "Shut up you shitty nerd! I don't need one of your lame plans!" he declared standing up and heading for the door.
"No, Bakugo," I said, turning to face him. I didn't like the guy, to be honest I thought he was an asshole, but he still had an odd sense of honor. "You need to be careful, Shinso's power is-"
A small series of firecracker explosions drowned out my words, Bakugo yelling, "And I don't need your fuckin' help either, Pikachu! I'm gonna win this thing on my own, and show you all who's the strongest!"
Before we could say anything more, he'd strode through the door, and I debated getting up and following him, something I saw Midoriya was struggling with as well. Maybe it was my dislike of Mind Control speaking, but Bakugo was not ready for this fight.
"Let him go," Mina said consolingly, squeezing the hand she still held. She let it go as the others turned to look at her, continuing, "I worked hard to plan for my fight. Everyone here did," she stated, looking around, and the others nodded, even Sero. "If he didn't, that's his problem. It's not like he's gonna get hurt."
"It might even get him to cool off, ribbit," Asui added.
Midoriya however, grimaced. "I. . . I don't think it will," he said quietly, looking out towards the field.
The class fell silent, and remained that way for several minutes. Kirishima and Ochaco walked in together, both looking tired but cheerful. Uraraka's eyes were a bit red, but she was otherwise okay. "Hey, what's up?" the redheaded boy asked. "You guys all look like someone died."
"Someone's about to get murdered," Jiro shot back, causing the pair to straighten in shock.
Tokoyami explained, "She means metaphorically. Bakugo's going up blind against someone with a Mind Control Quirk."
"Oh, oh," Kirishima said, grimacing as he came to sit down next to Sero, who nodded back to him. "That's. . . yeah."
Ochaco took a seat next to Midoriya, who tried to change the subject, telling the brunette, "Your fight was really good. Mina said it was really tough!"
Uraraka hesitated, glancing back to Mina, who grinned and nodded. The gravity nullifier smiled sadly. "That's what my dad said it looked like. I still lost."
"I wouldn't be surprised if you receive quite a few internship offers," Yaoyorozu offered, getting a confused look from the brunette. "They do so based off our performance in the Sports Festival."
"Oh man," Kirishima groaned. "Everyone saw me just get blasted around like nuts!"
"They saw you keep getting up," Sero disagreed. " I just went down like a chump."
Tokoyami gave both of them a sour look, his bird head adding an extra dimension to it. "At least you made it to the finals. I shall remain unseen, in the shadows, as is my fate."
As the others who'd not made it to the finals commiserated, Uraraka's expression brightened, ever so slightly. "I really did good?" she asked Midoriya, quietly.
Turning to look at her, he took her hand in his, and earnestly professed, "You did amazing."
Ochaco smiled back, tearing up a little, before both seemed to realize the positions they were in and pulled away, both bright red.
Thankfully for them, Present Mic's announcement attracted everyone's attention. " All right everyone, now that the field has been cleared, it's time for our next fight! We have the teen with the explosive temper, who was apparently a big deal in middle school, Katsuki Bakugo!"
"Is it just me, or is he getting less professional as we go on?" I had to ask, getting nods from some of my classmates.
" And his opponent," the Pro Hero continued, " is the only student from General Studies who's made it this far, Hitoshi Shinso !"
Shaking my head, part of me had hoped that Present Mic would give away the Mind Controller's power, but I wondered if the man even knew what it was.
"Fighting the fourth-place contender?" Shinso asked, sounding bored. "This should be easy."
Bakugo glared at the boy with Einstein-like hair. "I'll make you eat those words, blowhard!"
"Ready?" Miss Midnight asked, and they both nodded. " Begin!"
Shinso glanced over at his opponent, then looked away, unconcerned, "So, what are you gonna do? Explode on me?"
"Fucking Die!" the teen replied, blasting off, only to suddenly stiffen, hitting the ground a dozen feet away from his opponent, jerking at the impact as he rolled with it, getting back up. "What?"
"Choking already?" the mind controller asked, looking annoyed, likely at the fact that Bakugo's landing had broken his control, and I felt a faint sense of hope. If Bakugo kept moving, every crash-landing might break him out of being controlled until he could figure out-
"I'll show you choking!" The angry teen replied, bringing his right hand forward, power gathering, only to suddenly freeze, hand wisping with smoke as the explosion wasn't brought to completion.
Shinso smirked, and walked up to the blonde, Bakugo's face slack and his eyes blank. "Yes. I think you will. Now, be a good little brute and do as your told. Walk back to your seat. I'm sure someone will wake you up. Though, with your personality, maybe they'll wait a bit before they do so."
Bakugo, moving stiffly, turned and headed for the exit, not breaking stride as he crossed the edge of the arena, losing the match.
AN: So, who saw that coming? Next three Chapters up on !